University tuition fees would be scrapped under a future Conservative government, the party's leader Iain Duncan Smith pledged today.
Fees of up to £3,000 a year, which the government intends to introduce from 2006, were a "tax on learning", he said in a speech at the Beveridge Hall, London University. The Tories would pay to abolish them by dropping a Labour target to get 50% of young people into university and by dropping government plans for a fair access regulator.
Mr Duncan Smith insisted university places would be available for all who would benefit from them, but the government's 50% target meant too many young people being diverted from vocational training into "pointless" university courses.
"We will scrap Labour's university tuition fees because they have become, and will become, a tax on learning. Their fees have penalised hardworking families who simply want their children to get on. We will make the university sector better focused and will provide places to all who will benefit from them on the basis of their merit and their potential, regardless of their background, regardless of their means," he said.
Tory strategists said the estimated £700m annual cost of scrapping fees would be paid for out of the £480m saved by not increasing the student population by 200,000 by 2010, and the £193m earmarked to help poorer students afford the fees. An unknown further amount would be saved by scrapping the proposed office for fair access (Offa).
Labour said the Tory leader's plans would slash student numbers by 100,000 and cost 6,500 academic jobs. The higher education minister, Margaret Hodge, said: "The Tories have demonstrated yet again that they have a complete lack of understanding of the funding crisis that universities currently face. Universities currently get half a billion pounds in income from fees, which are only charged to those who can afford to pay."
Mr Duncan Smith's pledge was delivered as he launched a new Conservative Campaign, under the slogan, A fair deal for everyone, setting out the principles that will shape his agenda for the next general election.
This month's local elections, at which the Tories gained more than 500 council seats, were a "mayday signal" from voters who felt betrayed by Labour on crime, taxes, drugs and public services, he said.
The Tory leader promised that a future Tory government would offer better public services without imposing a tax burden that would drain Britain's prosperity. And he said it would make the revival of poverty-stricken estates which had been "hollowed out from within" by drugs and crime into a top priority.
Stating his ambition "to free the next generation from drugs", Mr Duncan Smith announced plans to unveil 16 Tory proposals to rebuild the community infrastructure of poor neighbourhoods later this week.
Mr Duncan Smith said: "Britain doesn't just need a change of management, it needs a different kind of government altogether. The Conservative party's fair deal for everyone is built on a unifying commitment to ensure that no one is held back and no one is left behind."
He promised to "rebuild this country as one nation", and added: "Fulfilment of potential is about much more than personal wealth."
